Monday, February 21, 2011

I'm still here! I planned to write a post welcoming in the new year, but wanted to see if I got the job I applied for so I could post about that, but then I got the job and was busy, so never got this written. I'm working a few hours a week interpreting at a community college and loving it. It's the best of the education world: I don't have to prepare lectures and grade papers like the teachers, or do homework and take tests like the students, but I still get to hear the lectures and such. The college setting is perfect for me because I can just work one or two classes a day, with a few days off.

As much as I would have liked to start earning a little money right out of school, I'm kinda glad I ended up just interpreting at church and low key places like that for a while. I'm so much more confident in my skills now than I was even in internship last year. I've been blessed with great classes and clients and wonderful interpreter teammates who support me and do what they can to try to help make sure I'm not overdoing it physically. It's hard with my health issues, and I've had some bad days, but I'm enjoying being able to do a little work. Plus, I get paid days off if my clients play hooky, haha.

I also volunteer interpret at my church, Evergreen Bible Church, and work a few times a month at another church. I especially love interpreting the worship music. Signing the songs is like worshiping with my whole body, and many of the congregation (even those who can hear) have taken the time to let me know that I've been a blessing to them.

I haven't kept writing everyday like I'd planned, since the few hours of work take up most of my energy, but I have been able to do a little here and there. I brought the opening chapter of my NaNo novel, Reaching Sky, to the critique group in my area that Randy Ingermanson leads and the group was very pleased with it. Yay! The main problem is that the character voice sounds too feminine, so I'll need to work on that throughout the book.

A few weeks ago I started having worse spells of feeling dizzy, weak, and lightheaded. My doctor didn't have an opening at a time I was available, so they sent me to someone else. That turned out to be planned by God. The doctor listened to my symptoms and looked at my chart and said, "Wow, you have a fascinating array of issues. Who is taking care of you?" I'm like, "Well, not really anyone." He says, "You need to be seeing specialists, and ones who are not just going to check you for one thing and then say you're fine, but ones who like unusual cases and will actually figure out the problem." By now I'm about crying because doctors have been ignoring me for years and this one finally cares. He's retiring soon but is making sure others will be taking care of me.

Two years ago when I first started having tachycardia (abnormally fast heartbeat) the cardiologist I saw was extremely rude and condescending and basically told me I was too young to have any health problems so exercise more and get over it.

This new cardiologist I saw last week was great. He said if my heart keeps going this fast then eventually it'll wear out, so it's important to figure out what's wrong. He wants someone to do more thyroid checks on me but for now started me on a beta blocker and I'm suppose to eat tons of salt and drink water. If he can't find anything to keep my pulse lower and my blood pressure higher, then he'll refer me to an electrophysiologist to look into my heart rhythm and see whether I'll need surgery or not (I'm hoping for a not).

This week I see a rheumatologist. I'm so thankful to finally have competent doctors trying to take care of me, and I pray they'll be able to figure out what my body is doing this time, lol. Then next week I have two appointments to help determine if I'm disabled, so I'm nervous about those, especially since my health is directly affected by my level of activity. I'm not as sick right now because I'm resting a lot and only working a very few hours, so they won't be able to see how bad I get when I'm attempting to work or go to school full-time or even half-time.

So, that's what 2001 is shaping up to look like. Things are never boring around here, that's for sure.
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Oh Amy, knowing how you have suffered over the years, I'm surprised to learn that you didn't have anyone taking care of you before now. I guess I just assumed that someone had taken the time to understand your symptoms and get you the help you needed. Hopefully that will happen now.

I'm sorry I missed this post but it seems that this post and your most recent have only just shown up on my list of blogs that I follow regularly. Weird.